Week 4 Quick and Dirty Fantasy Update

I know, I know, I’m late. I apologize to y’all. I was in Waco for work this week Monday through Thursday night. It’s really a pain when my job gets in the way of my fantasy article, but I digress. As the title alludes to, this will be a quick and dirty fantasy update as it is already Friday. Let’s roll.

The Good

Start all of the players you would normally start for the Bears, Bengals, Colts, Giants, and Texans. They have very favorable fantasy match-ups this week on paper, and most of those should hold true.

Braylon Edwards (Cincinnati): The mess that is the Cleveland Browns does give rise to Edwards’ fantasy value. Derek Anderson will take more deep shots than Quinn, and Braylon excels at jumping over smaller DB’s to make the catch. Plus, the Browns have looked so anemic on both sides of the ball, their trend of being down early could force them to throw a lot.

Glen Coffee (St. Louis): He will be getting the carries against a bad Rams’ defense in place of Frank Gore. Also, Singletary said that they don’t plan on changing their run-first style without Gore in there. Bad defense + A lot of carries = A good fantasy day for Coffee.

Kyle Orton (Dallas): The Cowboy’s secondary is not good, even though they looked a lot better against Carolina. I’m not predicting Orton to go off for 350 and 4 tds or anything crazy like that, but I do think he can put up some solid numbers. Especially if Denver’s defense gives up a few big runs early.

The Bad:

Maurice Jones-Drew (@ Tennessee): MJD had a great game last week. I don’t think you can ever really sit a top 5 pick, and that’s even more true with how much the Jaguars rely on him to carry the offensive load. Yet the Titans are really good against the run. Jones-Drew still has value this week, but don’t expect anything near his production from last week.

Darren Sproles (@ Pittsburgh): The Steelers’ run defense is still very good. They are 1-2 which I love being a Browns fan, and have a tough match-up against the Chargers. Sproles might be able to make a big play or two, but his running won’t be very consistent. I’m thinking he’ll be on the low-end in terms of carries and YPC, averaging only about 3. As long as LT is out, Sproles has a lot of value. Yet there are more favorable fantasy match-ups than Sproles this week.

Matt Cassell (New York Giants): In keeping with the theme for this section, Cassell’s match-up is really the only thing I don’t like about him this week. I think Cassell will be able to get a lot of attempts, but the Chiefs offensive line will have their hands full. This means a lot of check downs and quick slants to beat the rush for the Chiefs. As Cassell becomes more and more comfortable with the Chiefs’ system, look for him to improve as the season goes on.

The Ugly

Johnny Knox (Detroit): He’s a Bear’s receiver so he deserves a start in deeper leagues with this being the first bye week and all. His speed allows him to get a lot of the deep targets from Cutler, and with one play, could have a solid fantasy day. Think of him as a poor man’s Desean Jackson.

Mike Sims-Walker (Tennessee): Sims-Walker is emerging as Garrard’s favorite target. They play a Tennessee defense that is good against the run and hungry for a win. However, the Titans’ have shown us that they are very susceptible to the pass. I’m starting him in place of Steve Smith (the Carolina one) as the Panthers’ have their bye week.

Donald Brown (Seattle): While Addai is the starter for the Colts, Brown is the finisher. He is in later in games when the Colts are trying to run the clock out. He had 14 carries last week and a catch of 72 yards. I’m liking Brown more and more, and against the Seahawks defense, this could be a nice flex option.

Remember, if one of your star players is hurt or on a bye, look to his immediate backup first before you go scowering the waiver wire. If you own Frank Gore, you should probably own Glenn Coffee. However, if your stud player is on a bye and no back-ups are to be found, look for match-ups. There are some players who aren’t owned in a lot of leagues who could be nice fill-ins for weeks when you need them.

On a lighter note, I’m also thinking of taking an ad out in the Cleveland Plain Dealer to see if anyone wants to quarterback the Browns. Worth a shot. If Anderson doesn’t look good in these next three games (which he won’t), why not give Cribbs more snaps in the Wildcat? What do you have to lose? He was a quarterback at Kent State and Cleveland’s offense couldn’t look any worse.

Sorry for the rant, but it’s tough being a Browns’ fan. Please sympathize with the Cleveland faithful. Also, remember to send specific questions via twitter to @Schelldawg or email me at schelldawg@airxxi.com.

Again I apologize for the lateness of this weeks update. Next week will be earlier and more in depth.

1. Josh Says:
   October 6th, 2009 at 2:51 pm

   If by “Good” you mean Braylon will catch 0 passes and assault some dude, then yes another great article.